The Search for Neverland
by solar-eclipse-12
Summary: Peter Pan had all kinds of adventures but he got bored with being a child, just like we got bored of eating Raisin Bran for breakfast every morning, remember?
1. The Slight Family

~Hello everyone, welcome to my story!! It's based more upon the ending of the movie than it is the ending of the book, as you can probably tell, but I'm trying to write it with some of the same style as the book. Hope you enjoy reading it, please r&r!~  
  
Disclaimer: The characters and story idea from Peter Pan aren't my own ideas. My own characters, Maggie and Percy, are my own inventions but are based upon the characters from the original Peter Pan.  
  
~*~*~*~  
  
Every child knows that there is a place out there where their adventures, their desires and dreams, all come true. Every child has a Neverland that is both like and unlike the others; every child dreams of dangers and quarrels, of fights and magic, and of grand adventures. The children of this story are no exception, of course; right then, Maggie and David were expressing their own glimpse of Neverland in just a classic child's way.  
"Have at thee!" Maggie made a jab with the chair leg she was using as a sword. David ducked and jumped off the end of the bed, turning to parry another thrust with the stick he had grabbed on his way in the house.  
"Villainous scum! Down with thee!" David cried back and threw back his head to holler as loud as his vocal cords would let him. He bobbed a hand over his mouth and hummed an Indian dirge as he dodged his sister's attack. "Back, ye wicked pirate! Ay ay ay ay ay!"  
Maggie threw away the chair leg and dived at her brother, knocking them both into a tray table that their mother had set up with lunch. Sandwiches and milk spilled all across the carpet; a plastic cup struck David in the head and he instinctively lashed out at Maggie, who was spluttering up milk and, in turn, pinched his arm, shouting,  
"Why, you great trickster, you! Get over here and let me pound ya'!"  
"Maggie!" Both of them froze, and it was quite a comical sight that their mother looked upon as she stood in the doorway of the small bedroom. Her children looked up guiltily from where they were sprawled across the floor; the tray table was flipped over on its side and there were bits of turkey in Maggie's hair. Both were covered from head to foot in milk and flecks of chips. Not to mention, of course, the darnable state of the carpet and the edge of Maggie's bed. Mother hid a chuckle and put her hands on her hips sternly. "What great violent language you use, dear," she reprimanded her daughter gently, and Maggie hung her head, but just for a moment.  
"But Mother," she argued an instant later, her patched dress fluttering about her knees as she hopped to her feet and upset the tray table even more, "the pirates are fighting the Indians!"  
"Not again," their mother groaned, and both laughed. The laughter of children is always like the tinkling of merry little bells, innocent and carefree, little humors appealing to them that are all their own. "I thought the pirates already took care of the Indians last time!"  
David was quick to retort, "Not the pirates, Mother, the Indians won the last time!"  
Maggie stuck her tongue out at him and immediately protested, "But that was only because the Indians cheated and threatened to destroy the pirates' Mr. Snuggles." She pulled a ratty old teddy bear off the bed and hugged it to her, glaring at her brother over its head.  
"And how is threatening him cheating? It's right fair to threaten!"  
"Children," Mother said, and that was the end of the argument.  
The mess was cleaned up and fresh sandwiches were made; the children had to eat these in the confinement of the tiny kitchen that was located at the top of a long, narrow flight of steps. The apartment was rather a small one, and there were only two bedrooms, a kitchen, a chipping, little bathroom, and a family room with only two chairs and a table, but it was all they needed. In fact, it was all they had ever really known, and they had never minded it that way. Maggie and David were perfectly happy where they lived; this was why they never played at being Kings and Queens, for they knew that to have a lot of money would be to have a great deal of responsibility, and responsibility limits freedom, as we all learn fast when we become young men and women, and grow into adulthood.  
Maggie slurped her milk and David blew air through the straw in his cup, making the liquid bubble so that both laughed. "Mother's getting worried," Maggie whispered knowingly to David, glancing over her shoulder secretively before she said it. She always felt terribly important when she whispered something to her brother, something that she had figured out all on her own. She waited, hoping he would ask how she knew; she thought herself quite the clever one for figuring this out.  
"How do you know?" David whispered, falling right for it.  
"Because," Maggie replied, after another outrageously obvious look at the kitchen entrance, "she's all tensed up again. She keeps checking on us in the room, she doesn't eat much anymore, she reads our bedtime stories real fast, and-" Maggie lowered her voice even more, "she refuses to talk to us about Daddy."  
David nodded wisely. "That means she's upset over something. Maybe she lost her job."  
Maggie nodded gravely in return; it was quite a funny sight to see, both children leaning on their elbows across their plates to whisper amongst each other, wearing such expressions as adults might when confronting a table stacked with bills. "When Daddy left us, she got so much more sad. I miss Mommy being happy." David nodded his agreement.  
Further discussion was interrupted when their mother swept into the kitchen and smiled at them both. "Finished?" she asked as they fell backwards in their seats and tried to look innocent. She swept away the dishes and they raced off to play again; the tray table had been removed, the carpet cleaned and swept, and the cat was sleeping on the stomach of Mr. Snuggles, guarding him from further attacks by the Indians.  
*********  
"Mother," Maggie said softly as they were tucked into bed, "where does the sun go at nighttime?"  
Mother laughed and gave her a kiss on the forehead. "The sun goes to the magical place that you have all your adventures in, and it has adventures of its own."  
David wrinkled his nose. "Mother, that's just silly! How can the sun have adventures? It's quite big for adventures, isn't it?"  
"You're silly if you think that," Maggie said quickly, before their mother could say anything upon the matter. David glared at her and crossed his arms defiantly. "The sun isn't big; if you hold up a button real close to your eye and look past it, it covers up the sun. That means it's not real big at all." She looked to her mother for support. "Aren't I right, Mother?"  
"Oh darling," their mother chuckled, and switched off the lights. "Good night, my children, sleep well." And she closed the door.  
Now, everyone knows that children, though playing in a fantasy all day long, do fear the nighttime and the darkness, and that adventures at night are quite a bit scarier than those at daytime. But these two particular children did not have little nightlights upon their wall, for their mother could not quite afford them yet. And so they were forced to hunker down underneath the covers and whisper to one another for comfort until sleep took them and carried them off to have wonderful dreams filled with danger and adventure, and the Neverland.  
"Do you think we could ever go to Neverland?" David whispered to Maggie as they were settling into sleep.  
Now Maggie had not heard the Neverland mentioned in so long a time as she was beginning to forget what it was, that it was the magical land that they always traveled to in their adventures, but she remembered eagerly enough. "The Neverland? Of course we can go there, if we believe it enough. Don't you think so? I think we go there in our dreams, that's why Mommy leaves the window open sometimes." They both glanced at the small, square window located on the far wall; it looked very dark, so much darker than their own room, and no moonlight hit it, for the moon was hidden behind the church across the street at the moment. A small, solemn breeze blew through it and ruffled their hair slightly.  
"I'm scared to go there," David said. He did not mean the Neverland, however; he meant through the window, into that black darkness. "Do you think Peter Pan meant to leave when he did? I dearly wish that he had stayed in the Neverland to look after the children there and to fight off all the evil pirates." He bared his teeth in the darkness fiercely.  
"Yes, David, because sooner or later, he had to grow up," Maggie said matter-of-factly. "Peter Pan had all kinds of adventures but he got bored with being a child, just like we got bored of eating Raisin Bran for breakfast every morning, remember? He thought it would be quite an adventure to be a grown up for a change. So he left the Neverland, and once you leave and become grown up, you can't go back."  
Her brother, who was a few years younger and thus hung upon her every word, as younger siblings tend to do, buried his face in his pillow and replied in a muffled voice, "But I don't want to be grown up. I want to have adventures and beat all the pirates."  
Maggie laughed softly at her brother's own innocence, though she was not much older than he and therefore did not know much more. However, she replied in a rather knowing way, as older siblings tend to do, "You have to grow up sooner or later, David. But I wish we could go to the Neverland as grown ups."  
They both sighed, the happy little sighs of children falling into sleep, and rolled over on their pillows. Their eyes closed and the nighttime fears were swept away by dreamy unconsciousness.  
The moonlight crept through the window and shone upon their innocent little faces. The stars winked at it in reprimand and it softened its gaze so as not to waken them. Maggie sniffled and David rolled over, and both slept on, even as the moonlight in the window was obscured and cut off by a new form. 


	2. Peter Pan has a son?

Maggie wasn't sure what had awoken her but, when her eyes snapped open, she realized she could no longer feel the breeze upon her face. Had the window been shut? All she could see was darkness; she rolled over onto her side.  
The floor creaked. "David!" Maggie hissed in to the darkness, squinting against it and trying to pin down her brother with her eyes. "Why are you out of bed?"  
There was a moan from across the room, completely in a different direction of the creak, in the direction of David's bed. "Uhnn, I am in bed." he muttered, rolling over. "Go sleep now."  
The girl flipped over onto her back and looked up where she knew the ceiling was, concentrating on slowing her breathing. She wished desperately for the nightlight that she had seen in a drugstore the other day; the darkness, the real side of the Neverland, was beginning to scare her now. Swordfights and attacking braves danced across her mind and they seemed all too real and threatening at night. She closed her eyes and drew a large breath, letting it out slowly.  
From across the room, cloaked by the darkness, a boy stood, regarding her with a curious expression. These were the children his father had sent him to find? For one thing, they lived in an apartment that had been nearly impossible to find, tucked away behind the other houses as it was. For another, these children seemed content enough where they were. But why did they not have nightlights twinkling on and off? Were they not afraid of the dark? The boy's face darkened slightly in doubt. It was common knowledge that children who were not afraid of the dark were not near as imaginative as those that were, and those children most certainly would not be able to reach the Neverland. But these children. they seemed much too young to be so secure in dark places; perhaps their nightlights had just gotten tired of winking across the room at them and had gone out. Confident again, the boy advanced towards the girl's bed, the one that had spoken out in fright.  
Maggie was trying hard to go back to sleep; she had been having a wonderful dream filled with mermaids and flying circles around a lagoon that was full of mystery and delight, and she dearly wished to return to it. There was another creak, this one softer but closer to her bed. She opened her eyes with a start and moved to cry out; she was looking into the eyes of somebody else!  
A hand clapped over her mouth. "Shh," a voice whispered in her ear. "My name is Percy Pan." He let go of her and backed away to the foot of her bed; she sat up and could hardly see him now.  
"Percy Pan?" she whispered in response, rubbing her eyes and wishing she could study him better. "I have not heard of you; I have heard of one called Peter Pan, though," she added, almost wistfully, as though somewhere in her heart hoping that this strange boy might be him. She did not think it at all odd that he had climbed through the window and was now alighting upon her bed; in fact, it seemed rather funny to her, that a boy would find his way into this room in the middle of the night, in time to steal away her fears. "But Peter would not come here," she said grudgingly, when the boy only stared at her and did not make a reply. "He would not be able to find us here, we aren't even located on the street and we have no sure address, simply the box down the street that Mother visits when she picks up the bills. And we are isolated from all the other children, the children who must also know such wonderful stories as Mother about Peter and his great adventures, and who must also have been to such a magical place as the Neverland."  
"Peter Pan, not able to find someone that believes in him?" Percy let out a carefree chuckle that revealed his youth even more; only children were able to laugh like that, without any worry from the world pressing down upon them and smothering their happiness. "Dear girl, what gives you that idea? Pan can find anybody he likes, and so can I! I found you, didn't I?" And he seemed quite pleased with himself about it, too.  
She shrugged. "So why are you here, then?"  
"I'm Peter Pan's son and we-"  
"What?" she asked, certain that her ears had deceived her.  
He stopped, then began again impatiently, "I'm Peter Pan's son, and we-"  
"No, no, I heard you. I don't believe it! Peter Pan has a son?"  
Percy huffed impatiently and disappeared. Well, he did not really disappear, but he was gone in a moment from the dark spot that Maggie had been watching, and she could not follow his path without the aid of a nightlight. "Yes, Peter has a son; you knew he left Neverland; of course you did. And he married Wendy, my mother, and they had my sister Mary, and then me. But Mary is grown up now, and she cannot find the way to Neverland." He was speaking from directly above her, and when she flipped onto her back, she could see his dark shadow floating above her.  
Filled with excitement, Maggie whispered, "And are we going to go to Neverland? Oh, can we please, Percy? I would dearly love to see it!"  
Percy sighed deeply. "That's just it, Maggie; we can't go there. The Neverland. it's lost." 


	3. Maggie's hesitance

Hello all! Hope you enjoy reading my story!!  
  
~Someone gave me a review and told me that Percy Pan is a nerdy name, and I totally agree. Whoever you are, good advice, you'll have to see my next couple of chapters to see what happens about that.~  
  
Disclaimer: The characters and story idea from Peter Pan aren't my own ideas. My own characters, Maggie and Percy, are my own inventions but are based upon the characters from the original Peter Pan.  
  
~*~*~*~ "Lost?!" Maggie cried incredulously. "The Neverland cannot be lost! It's made by the dreams of all the children; everyone who seeks it can find it." She was beginning to grow annoyed by this boy; even if he was Peter Pan's son, she could not see him in the darkness. Was he poking fun at her? She could not tell if he was laughing, frowning, or pulling a face at her.  
  
As though sensing this, Percy turned and whistled shortly over his shoulder. David rolled over in his bed and Maggie froze, but her brother slept on and the door to the bedroom remained closed. A moment later, into the room zipped.  
  
"Tinkerbell!" Maggie breathed in delight, her eyes following the brilliant little creature as she swept through the room, circling Percy's head. So busy was she at watching the fairy that she barely remembered why she had wished for light at all. But when she did, she brought her eyes back to the laughing ones of the boy that sat at the foot of her bed once more, watching her closely.  
  
He had light brown hair, the color of homely wheat it looked, and it was roguish and uncombed so that it hung ruggedly to his shoulders in clumps and clouded 'round the boy's eyes. Percy's hair also had a slight curl contained in it, the curl that had come from his mother. His eyes danced in the fairy's light as she circled him, a sound like merry bells following her flight; they were a light, sparkling blue and the pupils were turned gold by the magic that looping around his head. He smiled a little, watching Maggie's eyes, and his smile was that of a child indeed, carefree, happy, and slightly tilted so that his eyes lit up even more. He was dressed in a child's play clothes, short pants and a faded tunic that was torn across one sleeve to reveal tanned skin beneath. He wore no shoes and no socks; his bare feet were muddy and flecked with gravel, as though he had. as though he had been racing across rooftops before he had found their house!  
  
Maggie smiled back at him, entranced by this stranger who had disturbed her sleep with magic even beyond her dreams. She watched the fairy alight upon his shoulder and whisper something in his ear that made him chuckle softly. His laughter was like fluttering birds, flying free across a clear blue sky. Maggie laughed with him, and the sound of her laughter seemed to startle him slightly; he looked over at her and something glinted in his eyes for just a moment before he continued to chuckle the blissful laugh of the young.  
  
The fairy's light was dimming slightly. Percy looked at her and quite forgot the laughter. "Oh, dear, Whistle, the sun is coming back." He got up and went to the window, the breeze brushing his ratty, yet still soft hair around. The fairy nodded and twinkled something back in the unique language of bells and beautiful music that fairies call their own. "The Neverland?" Percy regarded her with a confused look for a moment, for he had very much forgotten the trouble that was at hand. Whistle replied in a slightly irritated tone, but she was much too used to the boy's forgetful nature to give it much notice beyond a reprimand.  
  
"The Neverland!" he cried out, remembering, and he turned back to Maggie, who had jumped to her feet with every intention of following him through the window, though she was scared to pieces of the darkness beyond it. "Maggie Slight, you must come with us! We must search for the Neverland, and you must come too!"  
  
"Me? Oh, but Percy. I couldn't leave David! And what about Mother?" She went back to her bed and sat upon it, looking at him with wistful green eyes. She dearly wished to go, it would be such an adventure, but how could she leave Mother and David after Father. after Father had gone away? She could not disappear too, they needed her now, and besides, she was growing up. She was no longer such a little girl as she used to be, and she was beginning to see that sometimes fantasies were just that.  
  
His floated a few inches above the ground and crossed his arms, regarding her with a mischievous little grin. Admiration flitted across her face and she grinned back widely, showing pearly white teeth that had been obediently brushed just before bedtime. "There's pirates, Maggie," he said, and his voice once again captivated her with its sudden, boyish excitement. His eyes lit up like bright Christmas bulbs, and he looked at her with such happiness and confidence that she could almost see the adventure in those golden pupils, surrounded by those sky blue irises. "And there's Indians, and mermaids, and fairies, and wild animals!"  
  
"Mermaids and fairies!" For this was what Maggie's heart really longed to see instead of dream about. She was out of her bed and at Percy's side in a moment. But then, by chance, she heard a slight rustle and saw something move from the corner of her eye. 


End file.
